Rodney to fight being forced into the new Auckland Council

Rodney Mayor Penny Webster says her Council is still determined to be excluded from the new Auckland Council.

This is despite today’s confirmation that the northern boundary of Auckland's super city will include her district.

“There has been strong and constant opposition right across Rodney to joining Auckland, but the Local Government Commission still confirmed that the new Auckland Council’s boundaries will include all of Rodney in it.”

Mayor Webster says her council met this afternoon to map out its next steps.

"A lot of people in Rodney feel that they haven't been listened to. There is still a lot of angst in our community about being forced to be part of Auckland.

"We were asked by the Northern Action Group (NAG) to support a local bill putting the northern part of Rodney into Kaipara."

However, Mrs Webster says while the Rodney District Council shares many of the same concerns as NAG, it has decided the best option is to propose its own local bill asking that all of Rodney be left out of Auckland.

“Right from day one, the majority of Council – and the vast majority of people within our district – have said that Rodney should remain outside the new Auckland Council’s jurisdiction and be constituted as a unitary authority.”

However, up until now, this move has being rejected by the Government. Mrs Webster says the Council will now draft and present a local bill to the Government asking it to keep Rodney out of Auckland.

“We have said all along that the new structure for Auckland is very complicated and more metro-focussed. It is better suited to the metro Auckland councils and Rodney with its vast areas of farmland and mainly rural townships.”

Mrs Webster believes a unitary authority in Rodney will compliment the proposed new structure of local government for Auckland and help to make these new arrangements less complicated.

ENDS

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